Sometimes, children are forced to work due to financial pressures at home. This can lead children to run away onto the streets to work. Sometimes children at home get beaten when their parents do not understand them. They make their children carry big jerry cans, dig from morning to evening, don’t take them to school, don’t feed them and don’t give them time to play or the freedom to speak openly. Many children don’t get their rights at home and in the community. They look for freedom. Hunger, stress, and a lack of love can all lead to children running away.
Children on the streets are often influenced by their peers. They offer protection from community members and the police. They say you can get everything on the street. Some children look for scrap metal on the streets for money. They sometimes have to steal to survive. Most of the time, the children struggle to find somewhere safe to sleep, especially the girls. They are raped. They might also prostitute themselves for small money. These girl children struggle to eat so they look for scrap metal, plastic to sell, and work as maids – anything to get food.
Children on the streets are especially vulnerable to negative action by the community at night. Sometimes they beat them up and put them in prison. They are often treated like criminals, burnt and even sadly beaten to death. They are sometimes hurt when they are being chased and struggle to access medical care.
Lack of education
Children on the streets don’t have a chance to be educated due to their lifestyle. Often, the girls have to trade sex so they can buy books, pens, and uniforms to try to go to school. This means the girls sometimes become pregnant, but with no one to help them to support the child. So their situation is worse than the one they started with.
Support
At S.A.L.V.E. we exist to help and support children to reunite with their families so they can go back to a safe home. We look within their family with them to see where they will be loved and cared for well. We also help them by setting up small businesses and give them support to manage these businesses. For some of the children we meet, we have a Drug Rehabilitation Centre to help them through a difficult time of oversoming their addiction. After some good months and checking on the progress of the child, we will begin the process of Resettlement so they can return home to their families.
I used to live on the streets myself when I was younger and I like to help the children by sharing my own experiences too.
When children are at S.A.L.V.E., we provide them with care, counselling, shelter, clothing, food, and sandals. We buy them games, help to them do physical training, and give them medical treatment. This support carries on even after the children are taken back to their families.
S.A.L.V.E. even helps those who want to go back to school or vocational training if their family is struggling to afford it. We try to give hope and offer a vision to all those who are in need.
Please join your hands with us so we can help even more children to have a brighter future.
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